


it's getting stronger

by i_was_human



Category: Lost in Translation (Webcomic)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Ghost Hunters, Angst, Demonic Possession, Ghost Hunters, Ghosts, Hurt No Comfort, M/M, Multi, Mutual Pining, Non-Linear Narrative, Pining, Possession, Surreal, no beta we die like all the ghosts in this fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-14
Updated: 2021-03-18
Packaged: 2021-03-19 10:07:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,080
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29997741
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/i_was_human/pseuds/i_was_human
Summary: It was supposed to be a routine mission. Nothing special - just a quick cleansing, and they'd walk away a lot richer.Of course, things could never be so easy.
Relationships: Ahn Jaewon | Wyld/Kang Dongho | D.Min/Kim Daehyun/Lee Minsoo
Comments: 9
Kudos: 8





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [iSleepy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/iSleepy/gifts).



Hanging out with Minsung is always an experience.

Minsoo drums his fingers along his thigh, just over the mess of black veins that cover his entire leg, and he rests his elbow on the table, fixing Minsung with a withering glare. "This _is_ a real job, hyung."

" _Minsoo_ ," Minsung wearily replies, raking his hands through his hair. "Seriously you can't think that this is _real_."

"Ghosts are real!" Minsoo protests, brows creasing in a frown. "You _know_ they are!"

" _Minsoo_ ," Minsung repeats, drumming his fingers along the table. It's a casual sort of restaurant - the kind they used to go to with their parents, back before they got killed in the field - and even looking at the same stupid cat painting on the wall puts a lump in Minsoo's throat. "Ghosts _aren't real_. Mom and Dad died in a house fire."

"Mom and Dad got killed by a demon," Minsoo snaps, hands balling into fists. "You _know_ it's true. You were _there_."

"That wasn't real," Minsung sighs, dragging his hands down his face. "Demons aren't real. Ghosts aren't real. That's not- that's not even why I asked you to come here today, goddammit-"

"Then what is it?"

"I want to ask you about going to Uni."

"I'm not going back to school," Minsoo snaps, brow twitching in irritation. "I told you _already_ , I'm not going to Uni."

"I'm just asking you to consider it," Minsung replies, holding his hands up in a vaguely placating gesture. "You don't have to do it, just consider it-"

"I'm not going to Uni," Minsoo repeats, brow creasing in a scowl. "I've been telling you this for the past _five years_ , hyung, but you never- you never _listen_! Of _course_ you don't listen! Not even the video I get can convince you I have a real job!"

"Ghosts-"

Minsung cuts himself off, head falling into his hands and strands of cotton-candy hair slipping out of his small ponytail. "Is this about the song?"

" _No_ ," Minsoo insists, hands balling into even tighter fists. "It's _not_ about the song."

"Are you sure?"

"Wh- you can't _really_ think that's why I believe in ghosts."

"I don't _know_!"

Minsung throws his hands in the air, a low sort of scream slipping through his lips. "I don't _know_ , Soo! You're- you're chasing something that isn't even real, and you're wasting your _life_ on this!"

"That's my choice," Minsoo simply replies, fishing his phone out of his pocket. He clicks it on, and missed texts from his group chat with his teammates fill the screen - apparently they got a new job? - and his lips curl into a smile despite himself.

In the end, it doesn't really matter what Minsung thinks. 

After all, he has teammates that matter more to him.

"I hope you come around, hyung," he starts, scooping his jacket and bag up from the table. "Thank you for dinner."

"Wait- Minsoo!"

He's out the door before Minsung can move to grab him.

* * *

When Minsoo arrives at home, Jaewon's cleaning their equipment.

The setting sun casts their technician in brilliant gold, and Minsoo watches as he scrubs at their spirit box, clicking his tongue as _whatever it is_ doesn't seem to come off. A pile of cleaned equipment sits next to him, and a much larger pile of equipment yet to be cleaned sits at his feet, nearly reaching his knees in height.

They may have too much stuff, Minsoo thinks. 

"Hey," he murmurs, and Jaewon yelps, hurling the spirit box at him as hard as he can.

...not the best instinct for a ghost hunter, Minsoo decides.

He grabs the spirit box out of the air and places it on the table next to Jaewon, little giggles slipping through his pursed lips. "What if- what if I was a ghost?"

"Enhanced communication?" Jaewon tries, tugging his goggles down over his eyes. "A more efficient way of using the spirit box?"

"Spirit gun," Minsoo breathes, plopping down in the chair next to him. "Like a spirit box, but a _gun_."

"How would that work?" Jaewon asks, and Minsoo would be less inclined to answer if Jaewon didn't sound so _genuinely curious_.

That's the great part about having Jaewon as their technician, he decides. The red-head's always viewed equipment as less of a " _can-this-be-done_ " than a " _how-can-I-do-it_ ", and Minsoo doesn't think any other technician would be able to fit their team so well. 

There's a reason they're called MAYHEM, after all, and only around ninety percent of it is because drunk Minsoo thought it was the single best team name ever and ordered merch before he sobered up.

It was a _good life decision_ , okay?

In any case-

"Could you make a ghost gun that sucks _and_ talks?" Minsoo asks, hooking his chin over Jaewon's shoulder as the younger scrubs one of their radios. "Portable ghosts?"

"I'd have to stop them from going intangible," Jaewon muses, dipping his rag in soapy water, "and I'd need a containment system... some way to study them, probably..."

"That would be _so cool_ ," Minsoo breathes, gripping Jaewon's sleeve with one hand. "We can have a pet ghost!"

"I think Daehyun-ah would cry," Jaewon murmurs, brows creased in concentration, and Minsoo sighs, flopping back against the couch.

"Probably. No ghost, then."

"No ghost," Jaewon affirms, pushing a strand of wayward hair out of his face. "Unless we can use my workroom...?"

"Perhaps," Minsoo grins, and Jaewon ducks his head, tiny smile hidden behind his hair.

"Perhaps."

* * *

When Minsoo arrives at their headquarters, he's only slightly surprised to see Dongho cleansing the room.

His oldest friend's bent over with a bundle of herbs in his hand, a cat charm hanging from his jeans and his hair pushed back into a messy bun. As Minsoo watches, Dongho fans the smoke into the corners of the room, clicking his tongue when the bundle stops smoking prematurely.

"You're smudging again?"

"Yeah," Dongho sighs, placing the herbs on the side table and turning to face him. "I think we brought back another spirit with us."

"Your good luck charm isn't working?" Minsoo quips, and Dongho's brow twitches as he grabs a lighter from his equipment box.

"It _is_ working. I found five dollars on the sidewalk this morning."

"And you got thrown into a wall the last time we had a job."

"It's _working_ ," Dongho insists, hand straying to the cat clipped to his jeans. "Why are you here?"

"Equipment check," Minsoo sighs, brushing past Dongho to pull out his cardboard box of tech. "What kind of ghost do you think it is?"

"I don't know," Dongho wearily replies, lighting the herbs on fire once again. "An animal spirit, I think, and a harmless one, but I'd rather be safe than sorry."

"The cat spirits love you," Minsoo cackles, and Dongho sighs, gently wafting the smoke around the room.

"They do."

They work in silence for a moment, Minsoo renewing the blessings on his crucifixes and Dongho filling the room with sweet-smelling smoke, before the elder blows out the herbs and tosses them in the trash, seemingly satisfied. Minsoo's almost certain the room's now clean enough to summon an angel - though Dongho's always been terrible at smudging, he did a surprisingly good job - and the sweet smell of the herbs only makes him relax further.

He's always felt safest, here - here, in their shitty garage with posters and maps lining the walls and his best friends around him - more than anywhere else, and that's something he wouldn't trade for the world.

Dongho plops down on the couch next to him, one of his own crucifixes in his hands, and he bumps Minsoo's shoulder with his, the faintest hint of a smile on his lips. "How'd I do?"

"I'll give you a C," Minsoo quips, and Dongho huffs a bit, turning his crucifix over in his hands.

"You're meeting Dae-yah for dinner tonight, yeah?"

"Yeah," Minsoo affirms, placing the last crucifix on the side table. "He chose the place, too, so I'm really excited."

"Are you gonna finally tell him how you feel?"

Minsoo flushes up to the tips of his ears, and he ducks his head, letting his dark hair fall in his eyes. "Shut _up_ , oh my _god_."

"You're so gone for him," Dongho laughs, and Minsoo elbows him in the ribs, lower lip jutting out in a pout. " _Ow_ -"

"You're such an ass," Minsoo mutters, reaching up to rake a hand through his hair. "It's just a dinner. For _friends_. No romance, no kissing, _nothing_. _Nada_."

"Are you sure?" Dongho asks, and Minsoo stomps on his foot.

* * *

Daehyun's already at the table when he walks in, and Minsoo feels a sudden twinge of guilt for being late.

Sure, it's not by much - only fifteen minutes - but Daehyun looks so tired and so disappointed that it makes something deep in his core _ache_. 

He's really not a very good friend, is he?

"Sorry I'm late," he greets, and Daehyun's entire expression lights up as soon as he sits down, exhaustion replaced with blinding joy.

"Hyung! You made it!"

"I wasn't gonna miss it," Minsoo teases, flipping open the menu and quickly scanning the dishes. "I can't believe you think I'd just stand you up."

Daehyun giggles at that, resting his chin on his hand, and Minsoo stares at him for a moment, taking in the way his golden hair falls in waves around his face and the bright twinkle to his eye.

Perhaps he's a little in love.

"What do you want to get, hyung?"

Minsoo stares down at the menu, gulping upon seeing that nearly every dish is written in a language he doesn't speak. This place is expensive as _hell_ , and here he is, in a salt and soot-stained t-shirt, smelling of herbs and smoke, and there _Daehyun_ is, hair styled and wearing a button-down and nice jeans, and Minsoo's once again sharply reminded that _he does not belong here_.

He tries to comprehend the menu anyways.

"You can get whatever you want, hyung," Daehyun beams, tilting his head a bit as his gaze softens. "I've been saving up for a while, so I can afford anything!"

"I'm not going to bankrupt you for one dinner," Minsoo huffs, and Daehyun laughs a bit, picking up the menu himself.

"Hyung, please. My treat."

"No. Hey, can you read this?"

Daehyun studies the menu for a second, eyes narrowing behind his glasses, before he laughs, high and awkward. "I can't... what does this say?"

"Oh, no."

Perhaps going to a super-fancy restaurant when both of them can't speak a lick of anything that's _not_ Korean wasn't the best idea. 

"Do you think if I just asked for a beef thing, they'd know what I mean?" Minsoo whispers, and Daehyun nods so furiously a barrette almost flies off his hair. 

"They probably talk to stupid people all the time, right? Right?"

"Right," Minsoo affirms, flagging down a waiter. "Hey, can I get the beef thing?"

"The _bordeaux_?" the waiter asks, and Minsoo nods, relief washing over him that there is, in fact, only _one_ beef thing. "Or the _alouettes sans têtes_?"

"Uh."

"Or the _chateaubriand_?"

"Whatever is the best!"

The waiter gives him a look Minsoo's received many times before - the " _you clearly don't belong here so you should leave and save yourself the_ _embarrassment_ " look - and Minsoo furtively flips him off, disguising the motion as a cough. 

God, he hates judgmental pricks like that.

"I'll have the _bor_ _deaux_ ," Daehyun sweetly adds, and Minsoo's sure he mangled the pronunciation, but the waiter doesn't respond save for curling his lip.

It's _on sight_ if Minsoo ever sees this guy again.

"Hyung," Daehyun scolds, leaning in to nudge Minsoo with his foot. "Don't be rude."

"I'm not being rude," Minsoo huffs. "And even if I was, he was rude first."

Daehyun gives him That Look, then - the one that says _"you're wrong, but I'll believe you because I trust you"_ \- and Minsoo's heart melts all over again.

God, he loves Daehyun.

His phone buzzes in his pocket, and he fishes it out, lips curling into a grin at the sight of his familiar home screen. There's really nothing that can match the photo - Dongho shrieking while Jaewon's sprinting away with a bone in hand and a determined set to his jaw - but that's clearly not the point.

One missed text from Dongho sits at the top of the screen, after all.

Minsoo taps it open, waiting as it loads, and as soon as the message pops up, he grins, sharp and dangerous.

_"We have a new job, and this one pays big."_


	2. Chapter 2

"What's our information?"

Minsoo sighs, blowing a lock of hair out of his face as he stares down at the paper in his hand. "It's supposed to just be a normal spirit. Name is unknown, death is- _ouch_ , brutal murder, and it's somewhere inside here."

"Great," Dongho deadpans, stuffing his hands in his pockets. "This is great."

Looking up at the mansion in front of them, Minsoo can see why he's apprehensive.

The mansion's five stories tall, sprawling across the space it occupies with seemingly no care for the nature surrounding it. Its windows have long-since shattered, one of the front doors gone and the other hanging off its hinges, and as Minsoo squints at the roof, he realizes that part of it's caved in at some point.

Great.

"We can bring my parabolic," Jaewon hums, hefting his backpack up on his shoulders. "Try and get a better lead on it."

"We can probably leave most of the stuff in the van," Minsoo counters, scooping up a flashlight and U.V. light. "If we all bring flashlights and thermometers, we should be alright."

"This place is pretty big, though," Dongho points out, and Minsoo nods, staring over at what appears to be the _third_ wing to the house.

"Yeah, it is. But it's so big that even with the parabolic, we're not likely to hear anything."

Jaewon frowns, but puts the parabolic back in the van regardless.

"I'm bringing the crucifix," Daehyun grins, and Minsoo grins back at him, leaning over to bump his shoulder.

"You gonna bring Jesus, Dae-yah?"

"I'm gonna bring Jesus."

"Good," Dongho mutters, scooping up a pair of smudge sticks. "You fucking need it."

"Hey!" Minsoo squawks, leaning over to whack him with his flashlight. "You suck!"

"I'm just saying the truth!"

"Guys," Jaewon softly interjects, and Minsoo and Dongho fall silent, both turning to stare at the younger man. "We're running out of nighttime."

"Yeah, Dongho-hyung," Minsoo snipes, flicking on his flashlight. "We're running out of nighttime."

"Fuck you."

* * *

Upon opening the one good door, the first thing they notice is that the foyer is absolutely _decimated_.

The tile's water-stained and coated in moss, and the formerly-grand stairs are now water-logged and rotting. Above them, the railing is cracked and broken, and the furniture inside is overturned and coated in either mold or unidentifiable substances.

"Gross," Dongho mutters, tugging on a pair of gloves. "And I thought that hoarder's house was bad."

"Don't take the stairs," Jaewon states, pointing at a bit of sagging wood in the center. "If you step there, the entire thing could collapse."

"I hate this," Daehyun mumbles, leaning over to press his face into Minsoo's hair. "Are you sure we have to split up?"

"It's just a spirit," Minsoo reminds him, and Daehyun nods into his hair. "It's not going to hurt us."

"Mhm..."

"How do we wanna split this up?" Dongho asks, and Minsoo shrugs, gaze flitting between his teammates as he runs through a plan.

"...I'll go with Jaewon-ah. Dongho-hyung, you go with Daehyun-ah. We'll go to the fifth floor on either side, and one person will stay there while the other goes down to third. We'll meet on first if nobody finds the ghost room, and explore the rest in groups of two."

"Sounds good," Dongho confirms, and Daehyun and Jaewon nod in agreement. "Let's head out, then."

Minsoo nods, swirling his flashlight around in an attempt to better illuminate the room. It doesn't do much, of course - the room is far too large and far too dark - but he can pretend. 

Honestly, a part of him is excited to explore this massive mansion. If nothing else, then so he can do some petty grave robbing once they're done.

What? It's not like the ghost needs it.

* * *

Much to Minsoo and Jaewon's collective delight, the stairwells are exactly as creepy as everywhere else.

"Look at that," Jaewon breathes, gaze flitting to a massive picture of an old man. "I love it. Look at this. It's like a real haunted house."

"It is a real haunted house."

"Yeah, but this helps."

Honestly, the fact that the lights don't work only makes this place creepier. Someone likely ripped out the wire years ago, and now there's nothing but deep gashes in the walls and rotting floral wallpaper and creepy paintings of somebody's dead ancestor.

Minsoo's having the time of his life. 

"Bloody handprint," he states, gesturing to the fourth floor door. "You wanna stop off here, and I'll head up to fifth?"

"Yeah," Jaewon grins, looking absolutely thrilled at the prospect of discovering an uncleaned murder scene. "I wonder if our mystery spirit will wanna chat."

Minsoo bids Jaewon a quick farewell, clasping his shoulder before jogging back up the stairs, and he flicks on his radio, holding it up to his cheek just in time to catch the tail end of an argument.

_"...not going to break, come on, Dae-yah-"_

_"It's totally going to break! Look at that! I could fit my head in that hole!"_

_"It's not gonna break, oh my god, just come up-"_

_"The wood is literally sagging, hyung. That is a swimming pool worth of water."_

"I'm at the fifth floor," Minsoo confirms, and Dongho hums agreement on the other line.

_"Got it. Head for the center. We'll meet up there, once Dae-yah decides to step over the water."_

_"I'm not stepping over it!"_

Minsoo laughs as he pushes open the door to the fifth story, shining his flashlight over the decimated corridor. Another terrifying painting is lying on the wall, and a door at the end of the hall seems to have been torn off its hinges, based on the way it's partly impaled in the wall.

This is so cool.

"Jaewon-ah, how are you doing?" he asks, and the radio crackles for a moment before Jaewon picks up, an unmistakable excitement in his voice as he gives his report.

_"Hyung, there's crime scene tape all over down here. There's also another bloody handprint on the wall, and someone carved 'help me' into the carpet with a pair of scissors."_

"That's literally the coolest thing I've ever heard."

_"I know, right?"_

"Do you think the ghost room's in there?"

Minsoo peers into the first room on the left, humming a bit upon seeing it's mostly intact. This area seems to have been some kind of study-library area, based on the books and portraits strewn about, and a part of him _really_ wishes he'd paid more attention to Daehyun's lecture on the floor plan. 

"Hey, Dae-yah," he starts, flicking on his radio once more. "What's in the right wing, fifth floor?"

There's a crackle of static for a moment before Daehyun picks up, and Minsoo has to strain to hear him over the roar of the static.

_"Oh! That's the rooftop gardens and observatory! How is it?"_

"Are you sure?" Minsoo replies, and Daehyun hums in agreement.

 _"Why do you ask?"_ Jaewon cuts in, and Minsoo sighs, staring at the room around him.

"I think your plans are wrong, Dae-yah. This looks like... some kind of study thing?"

 _"All the studies are on the second floor or the fourth one,"_ Daehyun replies, and Minsoo freezes, blood running cold in an instant. _"Are you sure you're on the fifth floor?"_

"Yeah," he slowly replies, flicking his flashlight from side to side in a vain attempt to make it brighter.

Suddenly this haunted house doesn't seem quite so cool.

"Have you guys found anything?" he all but begs, and silence reigns for a moment, the only sound that of radio static.

Minsoo really, really hates this. Even if it's inefficient, he's really wishing he and Jaewon stayed together.

 _"The temperature down here is all over the place,"_ Jaewon reports, and Minsoo can hear the sounds of something _squishing_ coming through the radio. _"Parts of the floor are really, really wet, so watch your step."_

"It's the third floor," Minsoo uselessly points out, and Jaewon makes a non-committal sort of sound in reply.

 _"I just got to the fifth,"_ Dongho chips in, and Minsoo peers around the next doorframe, gaze landing on a series of overturned bookshelves and a dismembered guitar. _"It looks like there's a kitchen over here?"_

 _"Why would there be a kitchen on the fifth floor?"_ Jaewon asks, and Dongho hums in mild bewilderment.

_"Hell if I know. Rich people do weird things."_

_"That's not right, though..."_ Daehyun mumbles, and Minsoo can hear sounds of quiet rustling on his end. _"All the kitchens are on the first floor."_

They lapse into a tension-laden silence for a few minutes, and Minsoo takes the opportunity to check a few more rooms, smacking his flashlight when it starts to flicker. He should've brought the good flashlight, he _really_ should, but he thought it'd just be a quick job.

Of course not.

"Piece of shit," he mutters, flicking on the radio. "My flashlight's broken."

Only static greets him. 

Now, that in and of itself isn't much of an issue. They've done contracts where he hasn't heard from one of his teammates at all - one particularly notable example being the time Jaewon forgot to turn on his radio entirely, and they only found out he was in the ghost room when he came sprinting down the hall in the middle of a hunt with a goddamn _revenant_ tailing him - but considering his flashlight is flickering, Minsoo has a _much_ worse feeling.

He fishes his EMF reader out of his back pocket and turns it on, wincing as the reading immediately starts to spike. It's spasming wildly - from two to four to three to four to two in instants - and Minsoo would have to be a fool to not know what this means.

The spirit's hunting.

"Get inside a room!" he screams into the radio, knowing full well they can't hear him but unwilling to not even _try_. Based on the fact that he hasn't heard a thing, he doesn't think it's here, and because he hasn't heard anything else, it's likely not near Dongho or Jaewon, so that leaves-

"Daehyun!"

The EMF reader stabilizes at one, and his flashlight flicks back on, the static from his radio being replaced with yelling. It's Dongho and Jaewon yelling, he realizes, and he holds it away from his ear, the noise deafening in the silent room.

"Everyone! Report in!"

 _"We're both here!"_ Dongho quickly replies, and Minsoo can hear what sounds like pots clattering in the background. _"I heard Dae-yah scream a few seconds ago, so Jaewon's running to check!"_

No.

No, no, no.

"Jaewon-ah!" Minsoo shouts, gripping his radio as if he can _somehow_ make Daehyun materialize with his grip alone. "Jaewon-ah, do you see him?"

Static for a moment.

_"I have no idea where I am."_

"Shit," Minsoo hisses, heading down the hall and ignoring the terrifying portraits on either side. "You really don't see him?"

_"No."  
_

_"I'd go down after you, but I can't find the stairs,"_ Dongho chips in, worry laced in his voice. _"It's like the door just disappeared."_

 _"Are you sure this is just a spirit, hyung?"_ Jaewon adds, and Minsoo sighs, raking a shaking hand through his hair.

"Yeah. The team before us said so. They heard it on the spirit box, got the ghost writing, and saw the bloody fingerprints-"

_"That's not ghost evidence, Minsoo-yah."_

Minsoo stops still in the middle of the hallway, gaze falling to the flashlight and EMF reader in his hands.

Dongho's right.

He's right. That blood - that's not evidence. And if that's not evidence, then-

_"I don't think it's a spirit."_

Minsoo's gaze slowly slides from the distant doorway to the room next to him, his heart hammering in his chest as he catches sight of bloodstains splattered against the wall. There's one word there, written in scrawling, smeared blood with a shaking hand-

_"I think it's a demon."_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> parabolic - parabolic microphone, used for detecting sounds through walls and over a great distance  
> emf reader - electromagnetic field reader, detects ghost activity
> 
> please leave a comment if you liked it! :DDD it really does help my motivation a lot!!

**Author's Note:**

> fic title from stronger by nct dream!
> 
> please leave a comment if you liked it!
> 
> also this is a gift for sleepy, which i forgot with my original upload - this is based off phasmophobia, so i wanted to gift it to her, since we play together! ily sleepy <3
> 
> [twit](https://twitter.com/i_was_human_) | [lit fic discord!](https://discord.gg/CNunB74)


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